One day when Jesus was at home in Capernaum, the friends of a paralyzed man brought him to to Jesus to be healed. The word about Jesus’ teaching and ability to heal was spreading throughout the area. His reputation had reached the scribes, biblical scholars of the time, and they were present to hear what the new rabbi had to say. The crowds were so big that the friends could not bring the paralytic to him through the front door. So they climbed up on the roof.
In the time of Jesus, towns like his built flat roofs made of branches, dried plant material and mud. The friends of the disabled man had a brilliant idea — they dug a hole in the roof over where Jesus was sitting and lowered him down to the teacher. Jesus recognized their love for the man and their faith in God. So, he forgave the man his sins.
While that sounds like an odd thing to do for us, it didn’t to Jesus’ audience. The Pharisees and other people believed that God punished especially bad sins with sickness and disaster. They thought that the blind, the paralyzed, lepers and others like them must have done something very wrong. Sins are ultimately all committed against God. So, if a person’s sins are forgiven, there is no longer a reason for the illness.
The people also believed that only God could forgive these sins and make the person well. By forgiving the man his sin, Jesus showed that He had the authority to forgive sins and to heal. Both are impossible for man, but not so for God. To say, “your sins are forgiven” or to say “get up a walk” are just as easy to say since both should be impossible — unless you’re God. And Jesus is God in the flesh. The people missed the point. They thought it meant that people also could forgive sins.
Because Jesus took all our sins to the cross and die to pay the price for them, he has the authority forgive them all. Which he does. He also tells pastors to forgive the sins of those who repent of them.
So, Jesus wants his people to do both today. He wants us to forgive sins and to have compassion on the sick and disabled. He wants us to pray for them and to do whatever we can to care for them. In the end, it is Jesus himself who does the forgiving — right here, right now and forever.
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